The House

Londoners Jack and Syd moved into the house a year ago. It seemed like their dream home: tons of space, the perfect location, and a friendly owner who wanted a young couple to have it. So when they made a grisly discovery in the attic, Jack and Syd chose to ignore it. That was a mistake. Because someone has just been murdered. Right outside their back door. And now the police are watching them….

I started reading The House by Simon Lelic thinking that I was reading a horror story. At least, that’s what I got from the synopsis. This book is definitely not a horror story, but it is a little creepy.

Jack and Syd are the new owners of “the house”. Their offer came in lower than the others, so they never expected to be chosen to purchase it. Jack had some reservations about the whole setup, but not Syd. This was the lucky break they deserved.

The previous owners of the house didn’t remove any of their items, so Jack and Syd had quite a bit to go through, and Jack has the daunting task of taking boxes up to the attic. While there, he finds some interesting boxes as well as the body of a dead cat, which obviously did not die on its own. Just another clue to Jack that the house is a mistake, but he doesn’t want to burst Syd’s bubble and keeps this a secret. This just happens to be the beginning of the turmoil the couple face in their new home.

The story is told through the journaling of Syd and Jack, and you get to see both point of views as the story unravels. Some parts of the novel move fast but others are really slow and I found myself questioning some of the storyline at times. I loved the beginning of the book because of its creepiness but feel that it fell a little short at the end.